Before her two kids returned to school at the end of last summer, Lorena Osorio stood before the Westminster, Colorado, school board and gave heartfelt testimony about raising her asthmatic son, now a student at the local high school. "My son was only three years old when he first suffered from asthma," she said. Like most kids, he rode a diesel school bus. Some afternoons he arrived home struggling to breathe.

The
Spanish government is considering a slew of new climate-regulations in order to slash its greenhouse gas emissions, including a ban on sale of gasoline and diesel cars beginning in 2040.

A draft of the country's "Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition" published Tuesday also proposes measures such as ending
fossil fuels subsidies, a ban on fracking, halting new oil exploration licenses and a transition to 100 percent renewable energy sources by 2050, according to media reports.

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A 9-year-old girl's death from asthma has been linked to illegal levels of
air pollution in the UK, the first such reported fatality.

Ella Kissi-Debrah, who lived just 80 feet from London's busy and highly polluted South Circular Road, died in February 2013 after suffering three years of seizures and nearly 30 admissions to the hospital.

A new analysis reveals that the latest models of diesel cars approved for sale since the 2015 Volkswagen "dieselgate" scandal are exceeding nitrogen oxides (NOx) limits set by the Europe Union.

For the study, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) used a "difficult-to-impossible to cheat" emissions test involving remote-sensing technology and statistical analysis to measure real-world exhaust emissions on more than 700,000 cars and 4,850 vehicle models across Europe.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum in Untertürkheim with the city of Stuttgart behind. Daimler

German cities can ban older diesel vehicles from its roads to combat air pollution, the country's highest federal administrative court ruled Tuesday.

The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig has allowed the cities of Stuttgart and Duesseldorf to legally ban the most polluting diesel cars from zones worst affected by pollution, paving the way for other cities to issue similar bans.

Copenhagen's mayor proposed a ban on new diesel cars entering the city's environmental zone, a low-emission area that basically covers the whole of the capital, as early as 2019.

"It's not a human right to pollute the air for others," Lord Mayor of Copenhagen Frank Jensen told Danish newspaper
Politiken (via The Local DK's translation). "That's why diesel cars must be phased out."

Scotland announced plans to end the sale of new gas and diesel-powered cars by 2032 and fast-track the development of a country-wide charging network for electric vehicles.

"Our aim is for new petrol and diesel cars and vans to be phased out in Scotland by 2032—the end of the period covered by our new climate change plan and eight years ahead of the target set by the UK government," First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Tuesday.

Volkswagen is offering German drivers up to 10,000 euros ($11,810) off a new, cleaner VW if they trade in an older diesel car of any brand.

The carmaker, which has taken a big hit to its public image ever since its
emissions-cheating scandal, said in a statement it is "shouldering its share in the responsibility for climate-compatible, health-compatible mobility on Germany's roads."

"Judge Breyer is making them pay the price. Volkswagen chose to poison our families with dangerous pollution just to pad its pocketbook," Kathryn Phillips, California director for the Sierra Club environmental group, said.